Artist StATEMENT

Within my encounters of both love and loss, I have found equal importance in elation and incredible heartache. My work is an intimate representation of how our bodies and experiences mirror patterns found in the natural world, where there is no apology in loss or the endurance to bloom again. The process of growth and decay in seasonal shifts are synchronous with the interpersonal growth I have felt throughout my coming of age. I create art as a patient confrontation with the intensity of pain in an honest manner; recognizing the significance of experiencing discomfort, and then releasing the narrative as a physical manifestation to move forward. It is my belief that there is profound beauty to be found in the rawness of realizing oneself again after deconstruction. Growth, while hopeful, is also difficult, and the strength we must possess to move forward is shared by nature’s re-awakening every spring.

Living in the Blue Ridge Mountains has taught me to seek solace in the simple sublimity of the present. Reconnecting with youthful and oftentimes messy curiosity in the world around me has granted me grounding, opening up my ability to capture moments in time with catharsis. The forests and rivers that surround us do not judge us at our lowest, and are impartial to our joy. They simply allow us to be